Grace Upon Grace With Sophie HudsonSample

DAY 7

I was having breakfast with a friend when one of those topics people say should never be discussed at the table made it into our conversation. But since my friend and I have known each other for a really long time, it seemed like a fine thing to talk about. So we did.

To my surprise, my friend and I didn’t just disagree a little bit. We deeply disagreed. We still do, in fact. And after so many years of friendship, I remember feeling some degree of shock to realize we were on opposite sides of the issue. We eventually agreed to disagree and moved on with our conversation as well as the meal, but I couldn’t help but wonder if the long-term dynamics of our friendship would shift as a result.

It’s been several years since that breakfast, and here’s what I know: my friend has continued to love me, and I have continued to love her. Has the topic come up again? Yes. Did we eventually come to an agreement on that particular topic? No. Has the world come to a fiery end as a result of our disagreement? Nope.

No doubt, thousands of issues can worm their way into our friendships and threaten to disrupt our preferred levels of peace and harmony. Some of those issues are more inflammatory than others (in the case of my friend and me, it was a political one). Unexpectedly, though, that ongoing area of disagreement with a friend I love so dearly has taught me a few things:

1. We want to make sure we love our people more than we love our opinions.

2. It may seem easier to love people when our beliefs and opinions align. But in my experience, when we ask the Lord to help us set our opinions aside and love people just as He would—without any bias or judgment—He comes through over and over again.

3. I never would have believed this when I was younger (because I’m a 9 on the Enneagram and peace is THE BUSINESS for me), but it’s actually really good that we don’t all agree on everything. If we constantly interact with a bunch of people who are essentially our mirror images, we have no need for Jesus’ grace and mercy, which enables us to love and prefer others in ways we simply cannot do in our own strength. He changes all of us for the better by teaching us how to bear with one another in love.

Sometimes we forget, but in all situations, He is able. Even when we disagree. How about that?

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